Under the Ice
by candycrazy12346
Summary: Jack agrees to show the other Guardians where he lives, but while they all skate on the eternally frozen pond, Tooth notices something strange under the ice... Fluff, hurt/comfort, and maybe a tiny bit of angst. No ships here but friendship. Nothing against Sandy, just didn't have room to fit him in. Cover is a screen shot of the movie. Technical problem solved.


Aha! Tis I, bringer of not-updates for things I should be updating and fluffy one-shots! I know I need to update The Problem with Interns (soon, don't worry!) but I finally decided to post an RotG piece. I've been in the RotG community even before the movie came out (that's right wiper snappers, I remember the days RotG didn't even have an archive) and have written several drabbles for it, but have never gotten one to posting size or quality until now. Hope you like it, and please leave a review or favorite.

**EDIT: **Apologies to anyone who read before it was edited, I was having a bunch of technical difficulties. If they have not gone away and the story is still a huge wall of text, PM me.

**EDIT II: **I think I finally figured out whats wrong with it, so please enjoy the fixed version.

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"-And this is my lake! Please don't disturb the local wild life, it upsets Wind." Jack gave an over dramatic bow as he finished, twirling his staff in the direction of the ice. A week before, the guardians had asked Jack if they could see where he lived, and he agreed to give them a tour. There wasn't much to see, but all of them could agree an un-melting lake was very Jack.

North paused at the edge while the others looked around at the tall trees and fluffy squirrels. "Is solid, yes?" He asked apprehensively.

"Oh yeah, it's nearly a yard and a half thick." Jack touched down on the ice, and slid over to where North was standing. "No ones' falling in anytime soon."

The Russian man chuckled at Jack's graceful skating. You would hardly guess someone as gangly looking as their ice elf**(1)** was so graceful, but it appeared immortality dealt with that teenage problem.

"Good, I have not skated for a long time."

_-Line Break-_

It didn't take much time for all the guardians -save Bunny of course- to be twirling on the ice of Jack's pond, and the spirit of winter was thrilled. How many times had he sat on the ice, alone and unseen? But now, he finally had friends to share the beauty of his home with. It might not have a been a palace, or a burrow of eternal spring, but it had a magic of it's own.

"Um, Jack? Whats that under the ice?" Tooth's voice broke him out of his thoughts, and he skated over to see what she was talking about.

She was kneeling on the ice at the middle of the pond, staring down at a dark shape bellow. It seemed like it was stuck in the ice, though not close enough to the surface to be recognizable. Jack studied it for a moment, furrowing his brow.

"I'm not sure. I've never noticed it before."

"Oi, what are you all looking at?" Bunny's voice carried over, and Jack became aware North and Sandy had also come over to look, and Bunny was making his way over warily.

"I think there's something in the ice, I'm gonna try to get it out, stand back." After waiting a moment for the other four guardians to shuffle away, he slammed his staff down and closed his eyes to concentrate. Nothing happened for a moment, then blue sparks began to dance over Jack's skin, and the ice started to rumble, making Bunny swear and hop farther away. A few seconds more, and a large square of ice started to slide upwards in front of Jack, bringing the dark shape up with it.

When the whole block was pulled to the surface, Jack slid it over and quickly re-froze some of the water, then collapsed next to it, panting.

"J-Jack..." Tooth's voice was just load enough for him to hear, and full of something that made the water on his skin freeze. Jack cracked oven his eyes, and came face to face with... Himself?

"AH!" Jack let out a startled scream and jerked away from the face, holding his staff out in front of him like a shield. Encased in ice, there was a boy. He was the same height as Jack, and had the same face as Jack, and was wearing the same clothes Jack used to, but he has Brown hair, and his skin was even paler than Jack's, an awful grey color that turned Jack's stomach.

"_Дорогой Бог_"_**(2) **_North's voice, probably speaking Russian, but Jack can't concentrate on it long enough to decide.

"Jack, is that- why is-Oh Jack." Tooth's voice joined North's in his head, echoing oddly. He glanced over and saw her hovering over the ice, wringing her hands in worry.

"Bloody hell." Jack felt a warm paw encircling his shoulders, but it took his addled mind a moment to connect the Australian accent and fur to his friend. He looked up to meet Bunny's eyes, but found instead to be looking up at water and ice.

_Ice so much ice. Couldn't break through again. She was screaming his name, he needed to get out..._

_"Jack!" _

"Jack!"

_Cold as ice. But not. Getting darker. Ice was cold, ice was all around him. Ice wasn't cold, ice was silence. She wasn't screaming any more..._

"C'mon mate."

_But it was so cold.  
__-Line Break-_

Cold...

Warm?

Jack's eyes flew open, and he reached instinctively for his staff, but his hand met only air. Before the panic of being defenseless set in, he realized where he was, the infirmary of North's workshop. Sandy was snoozing next to him, unawakened by his brief thrashing. But what was he doing there? Last time he remembered, he'd been at his pond...

It all came back in a flash, the cold lifeless face in the ice, _his_ face. As soon as he remembered, he wished he hadn't. Jack pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes and let out a quiet moan, partially horror in disgust at what he saw, and partial horror and embarrassment that the other Guardians had seen not only his dead body, but his freak out afterwords, and that he was sure to be questioned about it. Sure, they'd inquired about his life before becoming a spirit before, but he'd always been able to shrug it off before. He couldn't avoid it this time though, and if he was honest with himself, he didn't want to.

"Sandy?"

The little man's head popped up, and he blinked at Jack a few times before his eyes widened and he grinned. A golden question mark formed above his head, and Jack winced, but forced a smile none the less. From the way Sandy raised an eyebrow at this, he guest it wasn't a very convincing one.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry you guys had to see that." He rubbed his arms as though trying to warm them up.

"I 'spose you have some questions."

They did have questions, Jack could see it in their eyes as soon as he went into North's main room, but apparently someone decided it would be best to eat first. Jack himself opted out on anything but some ice water, but from the other's heaped plates, he guessed the Yetis were pretty good cooks. By the time Bunny had eaten his last piece of lettuce, Jack had been able to think over what he would say to them.

"So Jack... what was that in the ice?" North's voice broke through the silence, low and rumbling. Jack almost flinched, but simply gripped his staff a little tighter and sighed.

"That was my body, from when I was human." He spoke quietly, but from the shocked expressions of his friends he knew they had heard him just fine.

"Your-your body? You mean- I always thought- oh." Tooth broke off and put one of her hands over his.

Jack gave her a reassuring half smile. "Yeah. Turns out I became a guardian when I died saving my sister, which is why I didn't remember my human life. Shock or something."

The guardians all had varying expressions of shock, horror, or contemplation on their faces. After several tense moments of silence, Jack felt a tug on his hand, and looked down to see Sandy smiling at him. The little man floated up and wrapped his arms around Jack's waist. North had risen as well, and pulled them both into a tight hug, making Jack squirm. Despite his wiggling, he soon felt Tooth's cool feathers slid into the tangle of fabric and sand. Even Bunny joined, ruffling Jacks' hair and calling him 'Snowflake'.

The rest of the night was spent drinking hot chocolate (or in Jack's case, lukewarm chocolate) and talking. Jack told them the whole story of how he died, and they all ended up sharing tales of their past lives, Sandy with pictures; Tooth with soft hand gestures and much add ins from her fairies; North and Bunny with much flailing and reenacting. Surrounded by his friends, Jack listened to tales of North's bandit days and drifted off to sleep, feeling for the first time in a long time like he was at home.

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(1) There is a lot of varying mythology about Jack Frost. From what I've gathered, he wasn't actually the bringer of winter, but more of a wandering artist. An elf actually, which gives me all kinds of fanfiction ideas. Since the movie portrays him as the spirit of winter rather than frost, in all my stories you will see a mix of both.

(2) Means: '_Dear god' _according to google translate.

**End Notes: **I have no idea if Jack's body would still be under the ice, and in fact it probably isn't, but for the sake of the story lets imagine it is.

I hope you all enjoyed : ) as always, I am taking prompts for select stories, and I will probably start a multi chapter RotG crossover or AU story soon, so if you're into that keep an eye out. Please leave a review and tell me what you think ^.^


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